Monday, February 29, 2016

Sorry people, the internet at our chapel in Navutoka has
been broken and today we went really quickly to the chapel in a different
village so we could email. We are in a place called Nakolo which is the highest
point on Tongatapu and it has a beautiful view of the Ocean from above.
Updates-- Today I found out that I have lice! It's kind of a right of passage
around here and not a huge deal. We are getting the lice shampoo and comb
today.

The Cyclone a week ago was pretty cool and it didn't really
hit this island, but it was REALLy rainy and windy. I also felt an earthquake
while I was sleeping! cool.

After the cyclone, sister Emch and I got this aweful rash
all over our bodies that itched really bad.

Anyway, the power is going on and off here so I am just
gonna hurry up ans send this. Sorry, not much time to write, but i'll explain
everything next week!! Love you all very much!! Oh! And we had a baptism this
last week for a 59 year old man named Nicki! It was pretty great and I felt the
spirit strongly during the baptism. It looks like everything is going well at
home. okay the end. Spiritual thought-- just
read John 21 and REALLY ponder it and tell me what the spirit teaches you. OFA
LAHI ATU. the REAL end.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

To explain the subject line, we went on a vilohoa on
Saturday with a sister who just returned from her mission in Hong Kong and she
kept saying "add oil" as like a "go get 'em" type of
encouragement phrase and I guess it is a missionary thing in a lot of other places
in the world so I am picking it up because i just like it and there are like a
bajillion analogies you can apply to it, so i'll leave it up to you all to
think of one on your own.

Yes, Tongans do celebrate Valentine's Day. Its not a big
deal, but they know about it. Yesterday was V-day for us and our fafanga (meal)
was a cute family of a man named Hame-- a widower whose wife died less than a
year ago, but he just got remarried last week and his new wife is the cutest
thing!! so loving! So I just appreciated the opportunity to see some cute
(older) newly weds on Valentine's Day. This last week was interesting. We
were supposed to have a baptism saturday but it didn't work out because our
investigator was busy all week trying to sell stuff in town and he didn't even
come to church on Sunday! Ugh! I was disappointed, but then we taught him
yesterday and he felt really bad for being so busy and we set up his new
baptism date and he was probably the most sincere I have even seen him as we
learned about the law of tithing. Other than that, many appointments fell
through, but we also found many new investigators and lots of good things set
up for this coming week! oooh one quick miracle... our most difficult
investigator who can't get over something he read on the internet about Joseph
Smith and plural marriage finally accepted a Book of Mormon and I know he'll
read it because he loves to read, and anyway, I know the spirit was there in
the lesson and I could totally see it working on him. Tui ki ai!!!!

Anyway, spiritual thought for the week-- still trying to
finish the BOM in Tongan! I'm in Alma, but last week I read a verse I loved in
Mosiah 23. Verse 21- the people of Alma have been showing such great faith,
they abandoned their old lives to join the church and just when they are
finally prospering in peace, "Nevertheless, the Lord seeth fit to chasten
his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith." No fair,
right? Well, that's kinda what I thought, but it just goes to show that hard things
come for our good to make us more patient and more faithful, not just to punish
us. I know the Lord does this to me all the time, but I am growing closer to
him everyday as he does so. The good times are not as good with out the bad and
we never become stronger until we know how it feels to be weak. Well, I'm out
of time, but I love you all and keep the prayers coming :) <3

-Sista Piva

the first shrimp i
have eaten that still had eyes! yummy all the same :)

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Another week here in Navutoka! It is getting REALLY hot and
humid, so we are really trying to notice the little blessings to distract us
from the miserable weather... oh and side note, in Tongan, weather is just
"ea" which is a tonganized word for air so i was super confused for a
while about that. oooh and the weather report is fakamatala ea or air
explanation. Okay, sorry. not important. But, my subject line is inspired by
all the reasons why people in Navutoka should be holo or losing weight right
now-- one of which is the weather. It is the kind of humid where you just sit
and sweat and collect lots of water on the peach fuzz on your face that you
didn't even know you had. We are blessed to be at the beach where there is
always a slight breeze, so EVERYONE goes to the beach all day to lay in the
shade and pretty much just sleep. So, reasons why people are holo-

1. sweating buckets

2. food does not sound good when you are soo hot, only cold
drinks

3. Fakamalohisino Friday is still going here and this week i
taught a bunch of line dances to the ladies which was a huge hit! although
there were only like 8 people there...

4. I think the heat or the food got to us again this week
and both Sister Emch and I had a mind over body battle to put food in our
stomachs and walk around. I was pretty okay, just fatigued. Let's just say Sis.
Emch's stomach is easily emptied.

5. The Elders in our district are all going home soon so
they all want to lose weight! hah. They keep asking us what they should do
because they saw us jogging one morning.

Maybe that's all for the list.

We are supposed to have a baptism this week but our
investigator lost his clothes and didn't come to church yesterday :( he has
come to church before, so there is a possibility he will still be baptized in
the coming week. Another investigator who had a baptism date for the same day
told us that he doesn't want to get baptized and he believes in a lot of the
things we have taught him but he likes his church just fine. That was sad.
Agency is my best friend and worst enemy. I know he used his agency to only
half halfheartedly keep commitments to read and pray and the spirit can't bear
a powerful witness to a heart that is only half in. We again testified to him
and left him with a final commitment to FIND OUT with real intent or else
always wonder what would have happened if he had tried. We may have lost a
couple investigators this week, but we also gained 7 new investigators! That's
quite a lot for us. Favorite moment of the week-- walking by a group of 5 or 6
younger men (20's) and asking them if they knew someone who we should go talk
to, and by surprise they let us talk to them! 3 were less actives and the rest
were non-members but they all had many sincere questions and real desire to
know the truth. Definitely a little miracle... also turned into a hard lesson
learned because we went back to meet them the next day and they weren't there
right on time so we assumed they ditched right away when in turns out they were
waiting nearby and they called to us by we didn't hear. You gotta have faith in
people no matter how many times you have been let down before. That's how the
Savior deals with all of us when we fall short. My favorite scripture of the
week: Jacob 4:7. Verse 8 is also good. Look it up. no time for me to write it
all out. Ofa lahi meiate au kiate kimoutolu!!!! <3 Keep the prayers
coming.

--

Sister Emily Bever

Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission

now if that pic
doesn't make boys come runnin after the mish, i don't know what will!! Those
are Sister Emch's glasses...

me and one of our
best friends-- Tangiloto! She is our ward mission- leader's daughter who goes
to lessons with us every Saturday... at least most weeks...She just got off the
bus from school at Liahona. She is wearing their uniform.